Operation Red Firefly
by gamblerrikku
Summary: Sakura needs a break, and Jiraiya's opening a new hot springs resort! Leave it to her boys to drag her there for her birthday, with a bit of Tsunade's help, of course.
1. Invitation

**GR's note: **_Another little plot bunny that's been bouncing around my head driving me insane. Same as __**Whatever It Takes**__, this will not be detracting from __**Maybe Forever**__. I will be continuing all three as I work on them, and __**Maybe Forever**__ is my baby, my biggest project, so it gets the most time devoted to it.Reviews are like candy and cookies! I love them in pretty much any flavor, and lots of them too! Don't forget to review! Hugs!_

**1 – ****Invitation**

_**Honored Guest,**_

_**You are cordially invited to spend a week at the Red Firefly hot springs resort prior to the Grand Opening Ceremony April 1st. Your stay will be all expenses paid and you are encouraged to bring somebody to enjoy your stay with. We hope you enjoy our facilities and will visit us again!**_

"Why are you inviting me? The first time we have a real conversation in almost a year, and you're inviting me to stay at a resort with you?" The invitation held in the woman's hand almost seemed to crumple under the power of her stare before she laid it out on the desk between her and her visitor, ignoring the urge to crush the paper into a ball and toss it in the wastebasket. Sitting back in the uncomfortable desk chair, she crossed her arms over her chest, regarding the silver-haired and seemingly relaxed man before her and noting that he still didn't look any older than he had seven years ago, when she was twelve. She attributed that to the mask that he never seemed to remove, which covered the bottom half of his face, and the perpetually lazy slouched stance he constantly adopted, both of which contributed to his indeterminate-seeming age. His lone uncovered eye crinkled in what she knew to be a smile, even though she couldn't see three quarters of his face. Nearly five years of being his subordinate lent her the experience she needed to deal with the enigmatic man, knowing the difference between his myriad identical expressions being one of her her more useful skills.

"You spend too much time cooped up in this hospital and the vacation might serve you well. Consider it a reunion, if you will. Naruto's inviting Sasuke." Her heart jumped. She hadn't spent any time with her former teammates, her boys, since she had taken the full-time position at the hospital, and her mentor had been working her practically ragged with extra shifts for almost the entire last year. Maybe the vacation would do her good, most certainly the company would.

"This is the resort the Icha Icha pervert was aspiring to open, isn't it?" Her shrewd eyes detected the minute changes in his body language that indicated guilt. Of course this was that perverted sage's hot spring, how would her two perviest friends have received such exclusive invitations otherwise?

"Yes." He hadn't needed to answer, but better to be up front with a woman who could pound you into hamburger meat with one petite fist than to be accused of withholding information from her. She flicked a strand of her strangely colored hair out of veridian eyes, suppressing a soft sigh.

"I'll see if I can get the time off, but don't get your hopes up. Shishou wasn't even planning on giving me my birthday off, but the entire week? That's stretching things a bit. Besides, wouldn't we have to be leaving tomorrow? Talk about short notice. You really aren't one to make things easy on me, are you?" she took a look at the clock on the wall, then down to the desk at the stack of medical charts she had to finish updating. Technically, her shift had ended over an hour ago, but of course she had been asked to stay and do some extra work. Being the hokage's apprentice certainly had more downsides than perks, even if some of those perks were really nice.

"We'll be having an early start tomorrow. Meet at the gates at seven so that we don't miss the morning ferry. Ja ne, Sakura-chan." She sighed again and leaned her elbows on the desk as he disappeared in a cloud of smoky wisps. The prospect of being the target of a voyeuristic old lech, if not two including his student, wasn't the most enticing, especially since she was sure that the springs would not have a divider or barrier of any kind separating the men's side from the women's. The guilt she felt at basically abandoning her boys in favor of her shishou's increasingly demanding tutelage made her want to at least try to get the time off though, just for them. Who knows, maybe she'd get lucky and have the opportunity to spend her birthday getting pampered for once rather than working or trying to convince her once-rival that she did not want to spend her night off clubbing or bar-hopping. Her thoughts were interrupted as her office door opened and in popped a short, redheaded preteen girl, her brown eyes fixed on the floor as she nervously addressed her superior.

"H-Haruno-sempai? The hokage wishes to see you, if you're finished for the day." Sakura nodded slightly, an empathetic smile on her face. She remembered how difficult it was to be the new girl, after all.

"If you don't mind bringing these files to Suzuki-kun to update, I'll go see her now, okay, Satou-chan?" The redhead blushed at being remembered on sight by her sempai and nodded softly, advancing into the office to take the pile of paperwork that Sakura offered to her.

"T-hank you, H-Haruno-sempai. Tsunade-sama isn't in a very g-good mood and I d-don't want to go back up there now." Sakura nodded as she got up and walked around the desk, patting the younger girl on the shoulder as they left the room together.

"I understand. Now scoot, Suzuki-kun will need those files. Good night." The redhead nodded shyly and took off down the hall in the opposite direction Sakura was headed. Tsunade would be in her office at hokage tower at this time of day, either drinking or trying her hardest to find the sake bottles her older protege Shizune had a talent for hiding from her. That she was in a bad mood said plainly that she had already started drinking or had fallen asleep at her desk again and had a hangover now. Either way, Sakura wasn't relishing the thought of speaking with the volatile blond woman, particularly not with a favor in mind to ask of her. It only took about ten minutes to reach the hokage's office by taking the short route and as she stood before the door, her hand raised to knock quietly, she hesitated and instead walked right in.

"You asked for me, Tsunade-shishou?" The blond woman fixed her hooded hazelnut-colored gaze with the pink-haired woman's own and beckoned her into the office. Entering, she softly shut the door behind her and approached the desk as her mentor leaned forward onto it, arms crossed over her chest. The older woman scrutinized the younger one while she carefully considered her words.

"You're a hard worker, Sakura, and an exceptionally bright young woman, both qualities which I respect and admire in you. As of late, however, I've been told that I'm pushing you too hard, expecting too much of you. I'd like to know what you think, Sakura." The blond watched carefully as Sakura fidgeted slightly. The pink-haired woman knew that she might be treading on thin ice and her answer might determine whether or not she was dismissed from her post, forget possibly putting her apprenticeship on the line.

"Of course not, Shishou. I'm honored that you think so highly of me and I wouldn't have things any other way." The blond sighed and Sakura frowned, slightly confused.

"He's right, you are too much of a kiss-ass to ask for time off, even when faced with a once in a lifetime opportunity." Sakura's mouth fell open, still not understanding.

"Shishou?" The older woman rubbed her temples, eyes tightly shut.

"You're suspended from your hospital duties until you get back. With pay, of course. Have fun and happy birthday. Now shoo, I'm hungover and I have a headache." The pink-haired woman was very nearly paralyzed in shock and it was several minutes before she was able to find her voice again.

"Pardon me asking, but does Kakashi-sensei have anything to do with this decision?" Tsunade narrowed her hazel eyes, once again regarding her apprentice with a certain scrutiny.

"No. The brat was in here bugging me to give you time off until I threatened to shut down the ramen stand just to get rid of him. Now go, before I change my mind, Sakura." Nodding, she quickly left to let her mentor nurse her hangover, blushing brightly. Even though she hadn't been able to spend much time with them, her boys still cared. Even Sasuke did, although he wouldn't ever openly admit it. His idea of kindness would be breaking her arm to keep her from her work and helpfully suggesting that she accompany the rest of them for a therapeutic getaway while she was unable to treat her patients anyway. The thought was there, but his methods were far from direct when it came down to showing it.

"So, we'll be seeing you in the morning then?" Sakura narrowed her eyes at the silver-haired man who had apparently been waiting for her to exit the tower.

"You knew that Naruto had already bugged Tsunade to give me a vacation, didn't you?" He barely inclined his head in affirmation. She sighed softly, crossing her arms over her undone medic vest.

"What would you have done if she had said no, huh? What if she hadn't sent me on vacation, what then?" She was met with his trademark eye crinkle as he replied with a amused note in his voice.

"I would have kidnapped you, of course." Her jaw dropped as he saluted and disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving her to wonder if maybe she really did need this vacation as much as he said she did.

* * *

"Ino-chan, do you think I work too hard?" The slight slur to Sakura's voice as she leaned on the bar and swirled a straw around the acid-green drink in front of her said clearly that she had probably already been out too long for the early morning she'd have to face tomorrow. Too bad that her friend, after finally getting her out, was not about to let her leave this early.

"If you think that a frilly pink sweater and a knee-length pleated skirt are appropriate clothes to go barhopping, then yes, you're working way too hard." The pink-haired woman scowled at the blond's scrutiny of what she had been about to wear, but instead got talked into donning a pair of faded blue jeans that were far too tight and a strapless chartreuse top that barely covered her.

"I'm not here to pick up a guy, Ino. Even if I tried, somehow I doubt he'd make it all the way back to my place." Ino flicked her long ponytail over her shoulder and patted her friends back. Her 'boys', as she tended to call them, had been actively deterring any guys that she had shown any interest in since she was sixteen. Well, not in the last year or so, because she hadn't set foot in a bar in that long, but still.

"I hope they aren't planning on doing that all week. It's your vacation, you have a right to get laid! God knows you need it." Sakura downed the rest of the green liquid in her glass and sighed softly, just before Ino motioned silently for the bartender to get her another.

"You know they're going to. I'm never going to have sex again if those four have anything to say about it." The blond raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"Those four?" Sakura's brow furrowed as she thought about it for a minute.

"Three. Those three. Though Naruto's protective enough to be a fourth person all by himself." Ino nodded. She had seen Naruto go to town on Lee enough to know that what her friend said was true.

"You know, I doubt they'd be so aggressive against one of their own..."

"No."

"I'm just saying, why not? The three hottest, most eligible bachelors in town and you haven't even tried!" Sakura took a sip of her new drink before playing with the straw and glaring at Ino, who was watching her with a sly smile.

"I honestly don't think that Sasuke even likes girls, he's just going to split in half one day like an amoeba and revive his clan with a whole bunch of little Sasuke-amoebas that look and act just like him, and Naruto... just... no. He's eighteen and he acts like he did when he was twelve. He still has that stupid crush on me and I don't think I could deal with a relationship with that spaz." Her voice sounded more and more depressed as she continued and she stopped to take another drink. Ino was struggling not to laugh as she noticed two very familiar pairs of ears listening intently from the other end of the bar and goaded her friend to continue.

"What about Kakashi then? I've heard that he's really good-looking under that mask of his, and with age comes experience... I should know." Ino watched both of the men at the other end of the bar and burst out in a fit of insane giggles as one visibly stiffened and the other nudged his friend while laughing as hard as she was. Sakura sank further onto the bar, looking less than enthused with her chin resting on her crossed arms.

"I doubt he's interested, Ino. ... It's getting late, I should go." The blond reached out a hand to stop her friend from getting up and seeing the patrons she was watching, thereby ruining her fun. She couldn't see his face, but she imagined that behind the mask and beneath the shock of messy silver hair there was probably a pretty good expression of shock.

"So, if he was interested?" She cast another glance across the bar and flashed an evil smirk at the man now staring st her from beside her partner in crime. Sakura scowled, her back in the direction her friend kept looking. She didn't want to know who the blond was trying to pick up tonight, because it was probably Genma, again.

"Leave me alone, Pig." Sakura shook off her friend's hand and got up, leaving payment for her drinks on the bar. Ino smirked. Between the exasperated tone she was using and her hurry to escape the line of questioning, it was as good as an expression of guilt and both of the men knew it. The blond took her friend's arm, waving kittenishly at her better half as she left the bar, practically carrying her friend.

* * *

"I told you, man."

"...Did you bring me all the way out here to prove a point?"

"Think of it as reconnaissance. Now you know she's into you and you have an entire week to do something about it."

"...I'm not even going to get into how wrong that is. She was my student, Genma. She is my friend, and my teammate. I don't care if you think it's a good idea, it's not."

"Hey, you're the one with the hots for her, not me. I prefer blonds..."

"Yeah, the entire town knows what you prefer. I'm out of here."

"You got a good chance, Kakashi. Don't waste it."

"... I hope you swallow that senbon and choke on it."


	2. Late

_**GR's Note: ** Updates for this story are by no means to be considered 'regular'. My muse struck me for this story while in the middle of muddling through the rest of my stories, and I actually managed to get a chapter done. Enjoy the not so conventional proceedings!_

**Chapter 2 – Late**

In the early hours of the morning, when most people are just waking to streaks of pink and purple sky peeking through their curtains, it's not exactly uncommon for those among the ranks of the village shinobi to already be keen and alert, their finely honed senses having warned them of the onset of daylight some time ago. There are exceptions to every rule however, and one such exception was quite simply not a morning person. Not that far away, suffering from a massive headache and a brutal lack of sleep, another exception to the rule just hadn't gone to bed yet, having become used to her nocturnal lifestyle, and was now anything but sharp and alert. Their respective wake up calls, however, would be delivered by two unnaturally perky shinobi, whether they wanted it or not.

* * *

_"Dobe."_

Whining in protestation both against his old nickname and the abrupt removal of his blankets, Naruto cracked one sleepy blue eye before rolling over on his stomach and burying his face in his pillows, heedless to the fact that he was completely naked. In a rare show of approval, thin lips hidden behind a shock of blue-black hair curled into a devious smirk before nimble and extremely cold fingers roved up the muscular curves of the blond's thighs, snapping him awake as he dove off of the bed to escape the frigid touch.

"What the hell?! Your hands are freezing, bastard!" The smirk only morphed into a feral grin as its owner deftly sidestepped the heavy projectile that had been thrown at him by the grumbling blond sprawled across the messy floor.

"Hn. This whole trip was your idea, I shouldn't have to wake you up." As if a tiny spark had gone off in the younger man's head, his demeanor changed immediately from half awake wrath into desperate panic while he scrambled to his feet, digging among the discarded debris on the floor for any pair of boxers that didn't look like they'd been worn too many times since laundry day and swearing profusely when he couldn't find any.

Unfortunately for Naruto, his dark-haired teammate was a sneaky, vindictive asshole who happened to prefer the blond without any clothes on and still had yet to enact his revenge for the rather childish prank that had been played on him a few days previous. Needless to say, the darker of the two was going to get exactly what he wanted before the blond would find so much as a sock.

"Teme, where'd you put all my damn clothes?!" The raven-haired man didn't incline his head to look up at his blond counterpart's angry glare, having absolutely nothing to be afraid of, instead just stuffing his hands casually into the pockets of his casual white shorts and donning his usual condescending expression.

"Hn. You'd already know that if you acted like a shinobi at all. What kind of ninja sleeps like you do?" The blond only growled at him incoherently and so, purely to taunt him, Sasuke picked up his own blue sweater from where it lay haphazardly on the back of a chair and tossed it at the blond, who sidestepped it and let it fall in a pile onto the empty bed behind him.

"Shut up. Where'd you put 'em?"

"Depends how badly you want to know."

Realization flashed across a narrowing cerulean gaze before arms that seemed pale in comparison to the younger man's crossed over a similarly pale chest and the owner leaned against the wall, smirking once again as he lounged in the satisfaction of the moment. Not quite so willing to admit defeat, Naruto crossed his own arms and flopped down cross legged on the bed, huffing as he refused to meet the already triumphant man's midnight black eyes.

"You're gonna make us late and Sakura-chan n' Kakashi-sensei are gonna leave without us."

"Hn. You could always go as you are. I'm sure Sakura would appreciate the view before she pounds you into the ground for it." The normally tanned skin that underlaid Naruto's 'whiskers' flushed a violent shade of red before the blush extended down over his shoulders and straight down to the seal that decorated his navel.

"She would not, she'd pound you when she heard that it was all your fault!" In a languid, almost lazy show of confidence, Sasuke straightened up and strode the distance to the bed in a mere couple of steps, only to bend down and nearly growl his amused threat into the stubborn blond's ear.

"Damn right it's going to be my fault."

* * *

xxxxx

"Fuck. There isn't enough coffee in the world to wake me up in time."

"I'd say. That was a lamp you just put in your bag, Ugly." Groaning from the lingering effects of a hangover rather than her long-time and mostly ignored nickname, Sakura took her bag and upturned it onto the bed, certain that she had been packing clothes. She was proven wrong when out fell her alarm clock, a desk lamp and the loose batteries that had fallen out of it, causing her to growl in pained frustration.

"You know, you could make yourself useful and help, you insensitive ass. I don't come to your place and bother you when you're hungover." The normal faint, but not entirely fake, smile peeked out at her above the sketchpad propped up against the pale shinobi's free arm as he put ink to paper, sketching the subject that was currently moving him; An irate, half-dressed, pink-haired kunoichi who was probably not coherent enough to realize that she wasn't wearing any pants.

"You probably would, if the urge to drink myself into an incoherent stupor ever struck me. For now though, you can simply praise my foresight to come over and help you. That was your clock again." Deftly he dodged the small plastic clock as it found its way back out of the bag and into the airspace to the left of his ear, courtesy of Sakura's mean throwing arm. Surprisingly, although she couldn't distinguish what it was she was throwing, she seemed to have little trouble with her aim.

"You aren't helping! Fuck, where did that shirt go? I really liked that one, that bitch better not have stolen it..." Quick, fluid strokes caught his vantage point on paper as the pink-haired woman immersed herself in a cluttered closet, rummaging through what appeared to be naught but a sea of red, white and tan.

"You mean that white shirt you folded up and put on your bed already?" Dodging the next deadly implement that the frustrated woman decided to launch at his head, Sai began roughly sketching the muscle formations making up the back of her thighs, particularly fascinated by her body when it was in motion, of which there was no shortage while she was running back and forth upturning her bedroom in an effort to sort out her belongings from her former roommate's while simultaneously trying to fill her bag with clothes— Or at least objects similar enough that she couldn't tell the difference, such as a textbook, a pillowcase and the flea collar she had forgotten to replace on her cat three weeks ago.

As amusing as her hungover antics were, being a strange contradiction to her normal behavior, Sai began to eventually feel that enough was enough— Possibly a result of years' worth of his companions' examples on compassion and helpfulness, though there were more than enough times when he felt that the amusement was more than worth ignoring the urge to help. Now though, he felt pressed to shift his perch from the open window to the bed beside her bag, at which point he began removing anything he wouldn't personally pack for a trip such as the one she was going on... The sheer scrap of purple fabric that he was sure her friend and rival used to wear as a skirt being one of those items.

"Ah...are you helping, or are you just being more of a pain in the ass?"

"I don't believe I've been a pain in your ass for several months now, Ugly, although I seem to recall that you enjoyed it when I was." Once again the heavy object launched at him didn't quite connect, although the bright tomato red her face had turned as she came at him pushing up her sleeves seemed to indicate that he'd made a grievous error in mentioning their discontinued interactions that had ended some time ago. The fist he leapt off the bed to avoid and left to crash into the void between the wall and mattress only furthered this grim assessment of his own actions while he watched the injured and disoriented woman try to lift herself up from the awkward position in which she'd fallen.

"I told you not to bring it up again, and I did not enjoy it!" Another ill-aimed flying leap at his nimble frame was side-stepped before the increasingly irritated woman found herself pinned up against the wall so hard she couldn't turn her head, both hands held tightly behind her back and pressed against her by a frame quite a bit broader and heavier than her own. A loud, protesting squeak erupted from her throat without permission when warm breath ruffled the wispy hairs that lay loose beneath her ear and sharp teeth nipped the delicate lobe with a familiarity that he wasn't supposed to have permission to exercise anymore.

"... And here I was under the impression that yelling was the usual method for you to communicate displeasure. I seem to have been grossly misinformed, since you were moaning my name awfully loudly for someone who wasn't enjoying herself." A short gasp followed the soft descent of his thin lips from her ear to the curve of her bare shoulder, where the practiced timbre of his voice meant to incite her passions ended with his words and the smirk he spoke them with.

"S-stop it, this isn't the time! Ah..." A hard nip to her shoulder shut her up instantly as pale hands roved up her legs and under the loose shirt she'd donned to replace the skintight travesty her best friend had forced her to wear the previous evening. Hands still bound and immobile alerted her to the fact that he was intent on keeping her incapable of productive struggle— It was his special method of artwork, most likely quick doodles of snakes or rope that kept her wrists tied and her hands completely useless. She couldn't even force it off with her own favored form of chakra manipulation, a stratagem that she immediately considered and then rejected— She was too hungover, she could barely see straight and her head was pounding hard enough for her to hear her own pulse without difficulty.

"There's always time to consult with my muse." An embarrassed and heady flush descended from the root of every strand of uniquely rosette hair right down to the collar of the enormously oversized shirt she was all but swimming in, enveloping the visible tops of her small breasts in a rosy red color that combined with the unique shape they made pressed against the wall to create a sight that would inspire him to attempt a perfect recreation of it on paper at some later time. No two dimensional medium would ever sufficiently capture the intensity of the warmth of her skin under his fingers, or the delicate seam between flesh and the thin cotton that served to cover it, or even the appreciative and defeated hiss that she expressed as he bit into the muscled flesh at the base of her neck— It was a sad fact that he had learned after their first encounter of such a nature and had been an important instigator for his newer and less objective appreciation for 'art'.

"...I told you we couldn't do this anymore." It was her last, false attempt at trying to push him away and he recognized it for just that, slipping long fingers skilled in more than just the medium of ink under the edge of her deliciously modest panties to trace the points he could picture in his mind easily simply from touch as he savored the slow path to the destination she was silently begging him to take one more time— The last time, he was sure.

"There's no replacement for a truly inspirational muse." Another, heavier blush tainted her pale skin as her breathing grew quicker and more shallow in tandem with his willingness to indulge the strangest and most nonsensical of her pleasures— He had never quite understood what it was about being bitten that caused her to so easily fall victim to his artistic whimsy, but it was always with his teeth embedded in her skin that she achieved the height of her beauty and the wholly unique contortions that her face and body fell into decorated scores of his scrolls and notebooks in imitations of their momentary fleeting glory.

"...If you make me late... I s-swear... I'll cut off your balls with the rustiest scalpel I can find and shove them down your throat." A thin thread of scarlet fell from her shoulder and began to pool in the crevice created by her compressed cleavage as a loud and unhampered moan cascaded from her lips, reddened by the moment while jade eyes glassed over in the lusty haze he had grown accustomed to seeing and indeed, quite fond of. Thin fingers tipped in short, trim nails clenched and curled as she fought her bonds again and soft, whimpered sounds of pleasure began to escape from her unimpeded as his own short nails found purchase in the flesh just above the tiny patch of coarse curls he knew by memory to be as vivid in color as the fine locks upon her head.

"I could leave, if you wish. I've been told it's quite offensive to engage in this sort of behavior without mutual consent." Explorative fingers traversed the short curls and the dampness covering them as he traveled farther with reverence, imagining how each hair could be laid out onto paper to create an image worthy of the moment he'd touch her and she'd start shaking, helpless to the curiosity that was lust.

Gasped out words, broken and nearly inarticulate, enraptured him with the delicately submissive being that emerged from a dominating and so often physically distanced woman, even as she exerted traits of her natural self within the threat.

_"Do so and I'll nail 'em to the fucking __wall__."_


End file.
